1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for extending vehicle cargo areas. In particular, the present disclosure relates to an easily storable assembly of a cargo area extending apparatus that is adaptable to either drop-down or side-swing tailgates.
2. Description of Related Art
It is common to provide drop-down and side-swing type tailgates for motor vehicles, for example, trucks, station wagons, etc. Such vehicles can be used for moving a wide variety of objects. On occasion, the cargo are may be insufficient in size to carry a desired object. In these situations, some individuals may leave the tailgate open and let the object extend beyond the length of the horizontal gate, or in the case of a side-swing gate, the end of the vehicle cargo area. In such instances, the objects are susceptible to falling out of the vehicle creating a hazard to other vehicles on the road.
Previous attempts have been made to extend vehicle cargo areas. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,872,239 to Bowness et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,773 to Smith; U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,213 to Palmer; U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,038 to Sauri; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,130 to Matulin et al., disclose various extending devices for fold-down type tailgates. However, none of these devices features a streamlined apparatus that will not add significantly to the overall thickness of the tailgate assembly itself and which maintain optimum structural integrity of the various components which make up the assembly.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved vehicle tailgate extending apparatus to extend the length of the cargo area and allow for the safe transport of objects larger then the original cargo area size while maintaining optimum structural integrity of the overall apparatus. Such an improved apparatus, when installed on a vehicle compliments the existing tailgate assembly geometry so as to appear as though the vehicle has not been modified significantly from the factory condition. Further, there exists a need for a tailgate extending apparatus which is simple to set up and to stow when not in use.